{{Short description|Canadian politician and judge (1875–1947)}} {{more citations needed|date=January 2012}} {{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Albert Blellock Hudson | image = Albert Hudson.jpg | image_size = | caption = | office = Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada | term_start = March 24, 1936 | term_end = January 6, 1947 | predecessor = John Henderson Lamont | successor = Charles Holland Locke | appointer = | nominator = William Lyon Mackenzie King | office2 = Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for Winnipeg South "A" | predecessor2 = Lendrum McMeans | successor2 = ''None (constituency abolished)'' | term_start2 = 1914 | term_end2 = 1920 | office3 = Attorney General of Manitoba | term_start3 = May 15, 1915 | term_end3 = November 10, 1917 | predecessor3 = James H. Howden | successor3 = Thomas Herman Johnson | premier3 = Tobias Norris | constituency_MP4 = Winnipeg South | parliament4 = Canadian | predecessor4 = George William Allan | successor4 = Robert Rogers | term_start4 = December 6, 1921 | term_end4 = October 28, 1925 | birth_date = {{birth date|1875|08|21}} | birth_place = Pembroke, Ontario, Canada | death_date = {{death date and age|1947|01|06|1875|08|21}} | death_place = Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | spouse = | alma_mater = University of Manitoba | profession = Lawyer | honorific_prefix = The Honourable }}
'''Albert Blellock Hudson''' (August 21, 1875 – January 6, 1947<ref name="court">{{CanadaSupremeCourtbio|hudson}}</ref>) was a politician, lawyer and judge from Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1914 to 1920 as a member of the Manitoba Liberal Party, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Tobias Norris. He later served in the House of Commons of Canada from 1921 to 1925, as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. In 1936, Hudson was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada.
== Early life ==
Hudson was born in Pembroke, Ontario, the son of Albert Hudson and Elizabeth Blellock, and was educated in Portage la Prairie and Winnipeg. He received a law degree from the University of Manitoba in 1898 and was called to the Manitoba bar the next year.
== Legal and political career ==
He founded the firm of Hudson, Ormond & Marlatt, with which he practised law for thirty-one years.<ref name="court"/> In 1914, he was named King's Counsel. Hudson married Mary R. Russell in 1908. In religion, Hudson was a Presbyterian.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.ourroots.ca/page.aspx?id=4028319 |page=195 |title=Pioneers and prominent people in Manitoba |last=McCrea |first=Walter Jackson |year=1925 |accessdate=2012-11-29}}</ref>
He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the provincial election of 1914,<ref name="court"/> defeating incumbent Conservative Lendrum McMeans<ref name="members"/> by 998 votes in the Winnipeg South "A" constituency. The Conservatives won this election, and Hudson sat with his party on the opposition benches.
The Conservative administration of Rodmond Roblin was forced to resign from office in 1915 amid a corruption scandal, and the Liberals were called on to form a new government. Norris was sworn in as Premier of Manitoba on May 15, 1915,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/features/timelinks/reference/db0011.shtml |title=Legislature Scandal |work=TimeLinks |publisher=Manitoba Historical Society |accessdate=2012-11-29}}</ref> and named Hudson as his Attorney-General and Minister of Telephones and Telegraphs. A new election was called, which the Liberals won in a landslide. Hudson was easily returned in Winnipeg South "A",<ref name="court"/> and held both of his cabinet portfolios until resigning from office November 10, 1917.<ref name="members">{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/hansard/members/mla_bio_deceased.html#H0 |title=MLA Biographies - Deceased |work=Legislative Assembly of Manitoba |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330155427/http://www.gov.mb.ca/hansard/members/mla_bio_deceased.html |archivedate=2014-03-30 }}</ref> According to a ''Winnipeg Free Press'' report, Hudson had wanted to resign for several months to better oversee his personal business. He served as a backbencher for the remainder of legislative sitting, and did not seek re-election in the 1920 campaign.
Hudson then moved to national politics, seeking election to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1921 federal election as an Independent Liberal. He defeated Conservative George Nelson Jackson by 2,866 votes, as well as the official Liberal candidate William Robert Hogarth, to win the Winnipeg South riding,<ref>{{Citation |title=Hopkins, John Castell, (1 April 1864–5 Nov. 1923), author The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs, 1901–20; Managing Director, The Canadian Review Co., Ltd |date=2007-12-01 |work=Who Was Who |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u198086 |access-date=2025-05-03 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> and served as a private member for the next four years. He did not seek re-election in the 1925 campaign.<ref name="court"/> During this time, Hudson rejected two offers from Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King to serve in his cabinet.{{sfn|Snell|Vaughan|1985|p=150}}
== Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada ==
On March 24, 1936, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King appointed Hudson to the Supreme Court at the age of 60. Hudson filled the western vacancy created by the death of John Henderson Lamont of Saskatchewan on March 10, 1936.{{sfn|Snell|Vaughan|1985|p=149}} While Hudson was viewed favourably in Liberal circles, he did not actively seek an appointment to the Court, although he made it known he would accept the appointment.{{sfn|Snell|Vaughan|1985|p=150}} Contemporary perception of the appointment was positive, especially from the Prairie provinces and Liberals.{{sfn|Snell|Vaughan|1985|p=150}}{{sfn|Bushnell|1992|p=261}}
He held this position until his death in 1947.<ref name="court"/>
== Archives ==
There is an Albert Blellock Hudson fonds at Library and Archives Canada.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Albert Blellock Hudson fonds, Library and Archives Canada|url=http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=103220&lang=eng|last=|first=|date=20 July 2017|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-05-26}}</ref> Archival reference number is R4653.
==References== {{reflist}}
== Works cited == {{refbegin}} * {{Cite book|title = Captive Court: A Study of the Supreme Court of Canada|last = Bushnell|first = Ian|publisher = McGill-Queen's University Press|year = 1992|isbn = 978-0-7735-0851-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/captivecourtstud0000bush |url-access=registration}} * {{Cite book|title = The Supreme Court of Canada: History of the Institution|last1 = Snell|first1 = James G. |last2 = Vaughan|first2 = Frederick |publisher = The Osgoode Society|year = 1985|isbn = 978-0-8020-3417-5 |location = Toronto|url = https://archive.org/details/supremecourtofca0000snel|url-access = registration}} {{refend}}
==External links== * [https://www.scc-csc.ca/about-apropos/judges-juges/list-liste/albert-blellock-hudson/ Supreme Court of Canada biography] * {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=5671}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson, Albert}} Category:Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Manitoba Category:Manitoba Liberal Party MLAs Category:1875 births Category:1947 deaths Category:People from Pembroke, Ontario Category:Members of the Executive Council of Manitoba Category:Canadian King's Counsel Category:Robson Hall alumni Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada Category:20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba